Capital Trip - Part Three

Day Five - Philadelphia, The Old Capital

Since we planned a one-day trip, it was essential that we started early, and we sure did as we took a cab at 4.00 am to the Megabus terminal. We arrived at Philly's 30th Street Station early, and perked ourselves up for the long day ahead with a couple of donuts and some coffee from Dunkin Donuts. Then we made the decision to purchase the Philly day-pass (which gives us 8 rides on the bus/subway) and took the subway straight to the heart of Old Philadelphia.

After a little sightseeing along the old structures along the streets, we went to the Independence Visitor Center to get our timed tickets to enter Independence Hall. Now Independence Hall is as historic as our trip can get. What's more -we had an excellent guide who provided us with a wonderful explanation of the significance of the building, as well as a lesson in history. It really is amazing how well these buildings have been preserved, and how fortunate I had been to stand within those four walls.

Our next stop was the Liberty Bell Center, where we saw the actual cracked bell; an international symbol of liberty and freedom.

Unfortunately, the original U.S Mint (which was located in the same area) was closed since it was a Sunday. There was a lot more left though, as yet another mini-adventure of mine led us to Ben Franklin's grave. Now this man is someone I revere as one of the greatest to live, and I have only the utmost admiration for a man of such stature and diverse abilities. His body (along with his wife) though lies in a relatively humble graveyard, alongside a few lesser-known signers of the Declaration of Independence including Benjamin Rush.

After that, we walked westward across some beautiful parks, all the way to Logan Square. Along the way we came across the City Hall, a gothic-style building that exhibits wonderful architectural features.

We then turned back and headed for Elfreth's Alley, one of the earliest residential street that has been preserved almost as it was centuries ago when the city of Philadelphia was first developed by William Penn.

Upon this we went to yet another park (there really were quite a number of them within the city, not too far from one another) in the form of Franklin Square. It was only about 4.00 pm, and since we had pretty much seen the best of what old Philly had to offer, we decided to take a nap on one of the benches facing the fountain as we were 'serenaded' by the repetitious tune of the carousel behind us. After almost two hours, we finally got up to make our way to South Philadelphia aboard a bus so Kwong Hann could taste the best cheesesteak - Philly's trademark food.

We then returned downtown under cloudy night skies for some night shots of the incredible buildings (as well as my dinner at.. you guessed it - Mc Donald's). With no restrictions on tripods in the city, we took shots of the City Hall, LOVE Park as well as Independence Hall before catching one of the last trains back to the 30th Street Station where we waited for our early morning bus back to DC.

Day Six - Botanical Gardens, Arlington Cemetery, Iwo Jima and Departure

Our final day of the trip began with.. well, our departure from Philly to be frank. After a few frenetic moments as doubt was cast in our minds with regards to the actual location of the Megabus terminal, we finally made our 2-hour journey back to DC - this time on a more crowded bus. There were some problems with the arrival at DC though, as a number of roads in downtown Washington DC had been blocked off for the Nuclear Security Summit which began on the same day, and our normal terminal was unfortunately within these high-security areas. Hence, our bus took a detour to another subway station, and by the time we got back to the hostel the sun was already blazing through the morning skies. That translated to no sleep for us, as we reached home, took a bath and checked out so we could make the most of our final hours. What helped us was the fact that the hostel's caretaker, Antonio allowed us to leave our luggage at the hostel till later in the day.

Without further ado, we immediately headed to the National Botanical Gardens, which if you recall was closed by the time we got there on the first day. It wasn't much to shout about, though they did have a varied collection of wild orchids.



Soon we were jettisoning off to Arlington Cemetery - the nation's most sacred burial grounds. The cemetery covers a massive area, and much to our dismay, the tombs of some of America's famed sons were scattered around the place. From US Presidents Kennedy and Taft, to war veterans of the major American wars, to the justices of the US Supreme Court; an aura of greatness engulfs the cemetery. What's more.. there is the historic Arlington House, before which Confederate General Robert E. Lee is buried. The view of DC from the house is simply spectacular..






A short walk away was the iconic Iwo Jima Memorial.. and no, no matter how tired our legs were we could not afford to pass on it.


With that, we were pretty much out of time. We headed back to the hostel for our luggage bags before shooting for the Ronald Reagan International Airport. With that, yet another truly memorable trip drew to a close..

Capital Trip - Part Two

Continued..

Day Three - Art Gallery, Archives, White House, Kennedy Center

We began with a train to the Navy Memorial stop. The initial plan was to start with the National Archives that houses some of the most important and famous documents in the world. However, there was quite a crazy queue that went around the building, so we decided to go somewhere else first - the National Gallery of Art.

Now the last time we went to an art exhibit was in San Francisco (SF Museum of Modern Art), and we were left perplexed yet never excited by any stretch of the imagination. We prayed this wouldn't turn out to be such an experience, and fortunately we weren't left disappointed. The massive building has an excellent display of paintings from different ages, including the works of Rembrandt, Raphael as well as one Da Vinci piece - the only one in the Americas (and it is a two-sided one).

The gallery did quite a collection of sculptures as well, but they certainly pale in comparison to the artwork. Next we headed over to the National Archives, where the crowd had subsided to an extent. Make no mistake though; the small size of the building meant not many people could be inside at one time so the queue can be deceiving, although ours was relatively shorter than it was earlier that day. Almost an hour's wait later, we were finally admitted into the building. This is where my eyes set sight upon a few famous original documents, that till today remain sacred to the nation, and the world for that matter.. The Declaration of Independence, The United States Constitution as well as the first few amendments to it, known as the Bill of Rights. It was certainly a moment to revel in for me. The only drawback was, albeit a significant one - the no-photography rule within the building as a means of protecting the documents from light, that destroys the documents over time.

Within the archives I also saw a few actual Supreme Court decisions that I had researched and referenced in my Philosophy of Law class during my final semester. It really was a shame that I have no photographic proof of ever being in the presence of such powerfully written words, yet we wouldn't want to deny the future generations a chance of still being able to read off these originals..

After that we headed west towards the Kennedy Center. It was a long, long walk yet there were quite a few interesting stops in between..

We reached the Kennedy Center just in time to catch the Taiko Drummers from Tamagawa University perform as part of the ongoing Cherry Blossom Festival. After the performance, we headed out to the balcony to view the Potomac River.

The weather began to get really chilly, as we walked down to the Lincoln Memorial against the setting sun along the long memorial pool. We finally managed to deploy the tripod for some night shots of the Lincoln and Washington memorials, before we headed back for Pizza Hut near the hostel.

Day Four - Sakura Festival, Memorials

We started the day with the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade - a two-hour long event that was amazing, plus the huge sidewalks around the National Mall area and the distance covered by the parade meant that everyone got a great view of the proceedings (unlike a certain St. Patricks' Day Parade in Chicago.. hmphh). Here are a few photos and vids for your viewing pleasure. :)

(Videos)

Right after the parade we grabbed lunch at Mc Donald's (we're cheap like that wth) before heading over to the Sakura Street Festival which was a display of Japanese culture, at least to the American eye. They pretty much had everything 'Japanese,' including mangas, Cosplay, sake, samurais, ikebana, origami and J-Pop.

After that we walked down south to the Holocaust Museum, though unfortunately the general exhibit tickets were out so we could only go for the special exhibit: The Rise of Nazi Propaganda. After that we walked further down along the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial and the thousands of cherry blossom trees planted along the basin.

After that we walked through the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and finally reached the Lincoln Memorial for some daytime shots of the incredible building.

With the little time we had left, we walked back east to the Air and Space Museum to finish touring the exhibits. With that, yet another long day in DC drew to an end, as we went home to prepare for our one day trip the following day to - Philadelphia!

Capital Trip - Part One

A note of warning before I begin - most of this is really going to be 'for-the-record.'

Day One - Arrival, Capitol, Library of Congress

We left Chicago early in the morning, amidst weather concerns. Despite the clouds that loomed above us, we reached the O'Hare airport safe and dry. A sign of things to come, that was.. Upon arriving at the Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI), we purchased the wrong pass (Maryland MTA!), although it didn't cost us too much. We soon figured out the right shuttle, and a short train ride and loooong walk later, we arrived at our little hostel. Inside we met one of the caretakers, Antonio who was pretty helpful throughout.

We didn't waste much time, as within half an hour we were off to downtown DC - namely the Union Station. From there, we walked a block south to the US Capitol..

We spent quite a bit of time walking around the building on a hot & sunny day. The US Supreme Court was just across the street as well. It wasn't too long though before we were desperate for some hydration, and our saving grace came in the form of the Grotto.

We then made our way to the Library of Congress - the world's largest library. It truly is a thing of beauty, and they also house quite a collection of the personal works of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. One thing that did bug us though was that every time we deployed the tripod, a park ranger would come up to us immediately and tell us that tripods are not allowed on the premises. Of course, we found out later that we could acquire permission to use the tripod on those grounds from the authorities, but we didn't bother to trouble ourselves over it.

Just around the corner is the US Botanical Gardens, which unfortunately was closed by the time we got there on that day. There was an external park, however so we ended up walking through the plethora of flowers that swayed to the afternoon breeze.

By the end of all that it was time for dinner, and we had our meal at Chinatown (after a typical mini-adventure on foot inspired by yours truly). Quite a bit of walking on the day, but we were still taking it easy as it was our arrival day. Long, long walks would typify the following days..

Day Two - Museums, museums, museums..

One of DC's main attraction is its splendid national museums, which are made all the more appealing by their free admission. We definitely weren't intent on missing out on those, as we spent our second day walking around the massive museums. We began with the Smithsonian Castle, an old Smithsonian building that now serves as the Visitor Center.

Of course, there wasn't much to see in it, but it does have free wi-fi within its compounds. We began our tour of the museums with the National Museum of Natural History. I thought New York's Natural History museum was incredible: this one just blew it away. They had excellent exhibits - ranging from stuffed wildlife, to the actual skulls and bones of ancient human beings. the highlight though was the Hope Diamond, which was displayed in all its majesty within the museum. There is so much history and lore that surrounds this finely-cut blue diamond, and I stood gawking along with a host of others at the marvelous jewel.

Our next stop was the National Museum of American History -which is basically a group of massive galleries that tell the entire story of how this incredible nation has become what it is today. I myself was able to learn quite a few things along the way. The highlight of this museum though is the original Star-Spangled Banner that fluttered across the skies at Fort McHenry as Francis Scott Keys composed the nation's national anthem.

Next up was the National Air and Space Museum: a huge gallery with giant spacecrafts displayed within the building - mostly suspended from the ceiling. Again, it was an honor to relive the history of aviation and space exploration. As time ran out, we didn't manage to complete all of the exhibits before the museum closed at 7.30pm. What awaited us outside though was daunting - dark, dark clouds that spelled troubled as clearly as they could.

Somehow, despite the crazy rain that ensued while we were on the train headed back to the hostel - it stopped for a bit just as we reached our stop, giving us enough time to complete our considerably long walk back to the hostel completely dry before pouring down once again. Seriously, I must thank the Weather Gods for a wonderful favor! Such were the first two days, but there's more.. much more.